Meltwater’s Insights team pulled together millions of online conversations about Australian superannuation to uncover some key finding about how the industry engages with their members on social. Here are a few simple insights we found throughout our research, when it came to funds engaging with social influencers.
There is no doubt that the advent of social media has prompted a surge in influencer marketing. Brands are aligning themselves with prominent figures to get their message out to the right people at the right time. The superannuation industry is no different. As superfund members are becoming more conscious of the companies they invest in, funds are becoming more proactive in aligning with the right influencers, especially during specific events.
1. Engage with brand advocates that reach the right audience
Meltwater’s Superannuation Industry Report found how various funds engage with their social audiences. One organisation that does an excellent job of engaging influencers during their events cycle is Australian Super. In the hopes of getting the attention of a younger demographic during the launch of their Kickstart program they engaged Nova host, Smallzy, as an ambassador for the brand in March of 2016.
Engaging influencers, like AustralianSuper, is an easy and effective way of boosting the social reach of a brand or a campaign. Funds like AustralianSuper and SunSuper that are not associated with specific issues or industries like divestment, or health care, need to be clever in finding ways to build their brand and associate themselves with issues that their membership truly care about. As such, by developing properly targeted, issues-based marketing campaigns, funds can position themselves front of mind for many users, in a wide range of demographics.
2. Align with partners that serve a cause
Another approach to finding the perfect influencer can often be found by discovering organisations that align with your business ethos. Australian Ethical took a strategic approach with their influencer marketing campaign by engaging a partnerships program with like-minded organisations that were predominantly influential on social media.
One key example is their affiliation with 1 Million Women, which has over 272, 000 followers on Facebook. It is a not-for-profit social group whose purpose is to build ‘a movement of women taking on climate change through the way we live’. The group regularly shared content relating to the fund, and in doing so would explicitly encourage its followers to act on their concerns surrounding climate change and the environment, by joining Australian Ethical. This not only engaged a new pool of clients but also ensured that their ethically minded members could seek the right fund for them.
3. Target trustworthy autonomous influencers
We also found that, for industry and retail funds alike, the term ‘joshbbornstein’ was second in prominence only to ‘superannuation’. It is in fact the name of journalist and lawyer, Josh Bornstein, who periodically writes opinion pieces for The Guardian Australia and Fairfax on a range of subjects, including super. He is also a prolific tweeter, with over 10, 500 followers, and whose posts regularly receive strong engagement.
Influencer marketing is an excellent opportunity to expand your organisation’s audience and reach, while creating more content that engages the community. Using an influencer marketing platform like Klear helps you with this.
As you plan your 2017 marketing and communications activities, think about influencers in your network who could be future partners. By nurturing relationships with passionate fans and advocates, you significantly increase the chances of engaging existing and new audiences to help build your brand in 2017.
